Harry the Hedgehog
by often-astray
Summary: Written for tarkloviski for her birthday. She left the prompt: Anything cute.


**Title:** Harry the Hedgehog  
><strong>Recipient:<strong> tarklovishki  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Harry/Draco (pre-slash cause I say so! XD)  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> "Anything Cute" :D  
><strong>Words:<strong> ~850  
><strong>Notes:<strong> Okay be honest, what is cuter than little!Draco and baby hedgehog!Harry?

NOTHING.

XD So, here you go! I googled the word 'cuteness' and the most unique picture was a hedgehog and after a bit more searching, the perfect picture came up. From the writing angle, I wanted to practice the mindset of a small boy, so I didn't use all the big words that I'm used to. That was harder than I thought it would be! *sweatdrop*

I hope this is sufficiently cute and that you have a marvelous birthday, darling!

* * *

><p>Harry wasn't going to question how he was running on four feet, or why the grass in this meadow was so tall, or even why his relatives had left in their car without checking to make sure he was with them.<p>

A simple vacation that clashed with Mrs. Figg's schedule had turned into a journey of both fear and freedom. No matter what had happened to Harry, he was going to take this opportunity and escape the Dursleys' once and for all.

But for days now he had been wandering and he was starting to think that he needed to find out where, and what, he was. He had found some berries, and some bugs too, which were kind of gross but he had eaten worse and besides, once he got past the crunch it wasn't all that bad. When he twisted himself he could see sharp-looking spines instead of fur.

What he really liked about being... whatever he was... was running really fast and then curling into a tiny ball as fast as possible to see how far he could roll. That was lots of fun!

Yep, definitely never going back.

….

Eventually Harry came to a big garden. It was a lot like the one he tended at Privet Drive, all trimmed and orderly and beautiful. He decided this would be the perfect place to make his home. He would just stay out of the way of the people living here and he would live happily ever after. He made his home under some rose bushes that he figured would keep out most bad animals and made a burrow and covered it with loose mulch and plant debris. Harry settled down for the night and slept the whole night.

In the morning he woke to a loud screech from somewhere and stretched. He trotted out to maybe grab some berries and another cricket, if he could catch one. The garden was really big, bigger than Harry had even dreamed a garden could be! His curious nature pushed him to explore and find adventures and get into mischief.

The line of rose hedges lead to a place that looked like the vegetable and fruit garden. Harry thought he was in heaven when he saw the ripe strawberries in a raised bed. It was a little high for him to reach easily. He picked off the ones that hung over the edge and then started to look for a rock that he might be able to scoot toward the edge, but he couldn't find one. He gave it up as a bad job and nosed in the loose dirt for some grub worms.

It was a long day of foraging and he'd also found a small pond for water. At sunset he stuffed his den with some flowers and grass for more comfort before falling into an exhausted sleep.

….

The next few days past uneventfully and Harry fell into a comfortable routine. He was very happy here. The huge garden was getting more familiar everyday and he was more and more used to being... this way.

On the fifth day though, his content life was set onto its head. When he popped his head out in the morning he was greeted with big, serious grey eyes. Naturally Harry squeaked, curled into a ball and rolled back into his safe den.

"Hey! Come back out, I'm not going to hurt you."

Harry really didn't want to. He just _knew_ if he did he would be thrown out for eating some of the food that was probably meant for this boy. Then what would he do?

"Please? I want to pet you."

Harry really wasn't going to come out. He _wasn't_.

"I saw you a few days ago. It looked like you wanted some strawberries. I have some here."

Harry's short ears perked up a bit at that. He didn't get any bad vibes like he did from Dudley, so maybe it was okay? He crawled through his tunnel and peeked his nose out first. The boy did have strawberries! Harry remembered he hadn't yet got his breakfast and he moved a little farther forward.

"That's it, I know you'd like some of these delicious berries. And I brought a dish of water too, in case you were thirsty," said the boy. He lay on his stomach in front of the dish with his arms crossed under his chin.

Harry walked forward to take a drink of water. It was cool and clear. When he was starting on the mixed assortment of berries he felt the boys hand press down on his back and his fingers dug in between his spines. It felt so good, it didn't bother him at all that he didn't know this boy.

"My name is Draco. Do you want to be my friend?"

Harry decided he would like that. He nuzzled 'Draco's' hand. If he was going to spend the rest of his life like this, he wouldn't mind spending it with Draco, who fed him strawberries and petted him just right.


End file.
